New docuseries pits William Powell against long-held mysteries

A new two-night, four-part Investigation Discovery docuseries revisits the case of “Benjaman Kyle,” a man found naked and unconscious behind a Burger King in rural Georgia in 2004—later identified as William Burgess Powell. Filmmakers Shannon and Eric Evangeli

On August 31, 2004, a Burger King employee in Richmond Hill, Georgia discovered a man lying naked and unconscious behind the restaurant. The man—believed to be in his mid-50s—had no wallet and no identification. He was temporarily admitted to the hospital under the name “Burger King Doe,” later shortened to “B.K. Doe.”.

When he regained consciousness, the mystery didn’t fade—it sharpened. He assumed the name of Benjaman and told staff his last name was Kyle because it matched the Burger King initials. He said his birth date was August 29, 1948, and that he had a few blurred memories of Denver, Colorado, and Indiana. He couldn’t remember how he ended up in Georgia, and he had no other identifying details about his life.

He was diagnosed with dissociative amnesia. a rare condition described as causing him to lose almost all memories connected to his past life. Over the years. he wandered through life with no social security number. relying on strangers. doctors and documentary filmmakers to help piece together the fragments of who he used to be. National attention followed. His story circulated for years as investigators tried to determine what had happened to him—and who he truly was.

More than two decades later. Investigation Discovery is revisiting the case in a new two-night. four-part docuseries titled “The Many Lives of Benjaman Kyle.” Filmmakers Shannon and Eric Evangelista. founders of Hot Snakes Media. say they initially set out to help the man recover his identity. Instead. they found inconsistencies in his account and witness accounts that led them to believe he was linked to several cold cases and a possible connection to a powerful Midwestern crime family.

In April 2015, the mystery man was identified as William Burgess Powell, an Indiana man who went missing in 1976. Powell—also known as Benjamin Kyle—then lived for nearly 30 years without a name. without a social security number. and without the ability to navigate life normally. He made a home in Jacksonville, Florida, while continuing his search for identity.

But the docuseries turns its attention to what came after the breakthrough. In interview footage. Shannon Evangelista describes a shift: “Initially. we really wanted to help Benjaman Kyle… But the more we learned about him. the more that he started to get angry. He wants to control the flow of information.”.

The team didn’t stop at paperwork. In an effort to jog Powell’s memory and learn more about his life, they escorted him across the country—taking him to Indiana to reunite with his brother and to Purdue University, where he worked as a janitor.

They’re also framing a central question that refuses to settle: what happened between 1976 and 2004?

Powell disappeared from his Indiana home in March 1976, according to a missing persons report filed by his brother. His car was found abandoned in a remote area of Battleground, Indiana, with the plates removed. His family reportedly believed he had died.

When Powell was 67 years old, he was finally able to obtain legal identification and access government assistance. Yet Evangelista says major questions remain unanswered, especially about the timeline of what he remembered—or didn’t.

She alleges Powell may never have suffered from amnesia at all. Instead, she claims he had ties to a notorious crime family in Lafayette, Indiana, and to George Keck, who had long been believed to be connected to the 1977 killing of Purdue University student Kristine Kozik.

One episode focuses on a cluster of witness accounts that. in the filmmakers’ telling. point toward Powell being linked to a powerful crime family in Lafayette—where some believe his disappearance may have been a way to save his own life. It also centers on Keck. who investigated and was examined in connection with several unsolved Indiana cases before his death in 2020.

At the time of Kozik’s disappearance, both Powell and Keck were janitors at Purdue. Kozik’s body was found two miles from The Bar. a place Evangelista claims was a gathering place for the crime family. In the docuseries, Evangelista is shown confronting Keck on camera, pressing him about what he knew about Powell.

“I’ll do it but I’m not happy about it. I hope I don’t end up in a ditch,” Evangelista says in the documentary.

During that filmed conversation, Keck describes details about Kozik’s death. “On that one there. in fact. they wanted me as a suspect. and I failed a lie detector because I did know more than I was letting on. ” he tells Evangelista. He says he knew she was killed accidentally because he was told “straight from the horse’s mouth.”.

Keck says the killer tried to get her to perform a sexual act on him. When she refused, he says there was a struggle—“she swung at him. He hit her, she fell and she hit her head on a rock.” Keck adds, “Now, I didn’t see a rock or anything else there, but that’s what I was told.”

Kozik’s murder has never been solved. In the docuseries, Evangelista and the team also touch on several other cold cases in the Lafayette area. Evangelista says she has worked to revive the cases, but no one has been charged.

Since he was identified in 2015, Powell has lived a relatively private life away from national media attention. Evangelista says that privacy hasn’t come with the answers the case has been searching for.

“Because he was not himself and lived off the grid between 1981 and 2004,” Evangelista says. “I know why he left and why he fled. I know where he went for the most part but I don’t know who he was and what he was like and I want to know all of it.”

The series also notes that Powell has not been charged in connection with any of the crimes alleged in the documentary.

For Evangelista, the question still burns. “He thinks I’ve given up. I’m not giving up. I know too much,” she says. But Powell—now 77 years old—has cut off communication with their team and investigators, making it harder to track him down.

Evangelista adds, “If we stop, he wins. We can’t give up.”

“The Many Lives of Benjaman Kyle” premieres May 25 and May 26. and moves beyond the medical mystery into what the filmmakers describe as a web of deception. unsolved cold cases. and alleged organized crime ties—leaving one haunting gap at the center of the story: what happened to William Burgess Powell between March 1976 and August 31. 2004. when “B.K. Doe” became Benjaman Kyle behind a Burger King.

Benjaman Kyle William Burgess Powell dissociative amnesia Burger King Doe Kristine Kozik George Keck Purdue University Lafayette Indiana cold cases Investigation Discovery Hot Snakes Media CeCe Moore Parabon NanoLabs